A Change of Place

When my mother passed away on February 29, I had to change her place in my daily workings from one of healing to that of the Ancestors. The transition is not always an easy one – from this side of the veil.

The first part of my daily working has to do with healing. I call to three healing Goddesses and Gods, in order, for their help in bringing about a healing situation or maintaining a healthy situation.

My mother passed away at almost-99 years of age. She missed her birthday by 10 days. She suddenly took a turn from the worst about two weeks before she passed away, and while I continued to do my workings, the inevitable cannot be delayed for long.

A brief rally

At one point during her transition, she rallied. I redoubled my efforts in my workings, but she began to decline again quickly thereafter. My job, at that point, was to be by her side if she needed anything. As was the case with my father a few years earlier, she began to sleep more and more, and her waking times grew increasingly rare.

Finally, in the progression of days, there came a point where I felt my mother was no longer present in the shell of her body. In this case, only natural processes were in play, and she had already departed for a better place.

This left me in a bit of a quandary in my workings. She was still living, technically. She also was assuredly not an Ancestor yet, at least not according to my definition, which includes “gone from this place”.

A call for assistance

At this point, I called upon Manannan mac Lir for help. I have a prayer in which I ask Manannan to prepare for the journey that this individual will take. My mother was not a pagan. In asking Manannan for help in her case was a request for assistance with an agency that I am familiar with and certainly not an attempt for conversion or coercion.

I also called upon the Earth Mother to welcome her home.

I went back to my sister’s home on the evening of the 28^th knowing that my mother’s remaining time in the physical place was short. The call came just after 3am, Central Standard Time, that she had passed.

Officially an Ancestor

At this point, my mother was officially an Ancestor. I vowed to move her from the “Help with healing” section of my working to the Ancestor portion of the working. This proved to be easier said than done.

For the first few weeks, I had to pay a great deal of concentration to get my mother from her prior long-standing place among those in need of healing, to the place of the Ancestors. As I have mentioned before, I say the names of my Ancestors every day. I had to fit her into a place where she fit comfortably into her lineage.

At first, I mentioned her in one place instead of the other. It shocked as though I had performed some critical faux-pas.

After a while, I mentioned her in the proper place. Every now and then, her name was spoken in her prior location in the litany of my workings. After a point, I came to understand that it was alright, and not some grave, inexcusable error. There were times when my mother was part of her former workings and a part of the Ancestor working and I felt that all was well.

A change takes time

When a friend and colleague recently passed, and I was once there at the time of transition. I once again had to think about moving them from where they were, to where they are now. I think it is only natural.

Change is gradual. Change takes getting used to. It is difficult to go from one place in our lives where we can reach out and touch people, to another where we can only touch the memory of them, no matter how vital it may seem.

As time passes and as they years move along, I think there will be many more changes of place. One day, I will be in that place as well.